Thoroughbred - Isidore Bonheur 1827-1901

Dimensions Length: 16.5 cm Height: 15.5 cm Width: 5 cm Weight: 1123 g. Signature On the right side of the embankment, on the Material pattern Bronze proof with brown patina resting on a rectangular embankment. Note a slight jump in patina on one side of the tail as well as a small accident at one of the ears. (which explains this low price)

The long and slender neck, the ears pointing forward, the intelligent gaze, the fine head characteristic of thoroughbreds, the trimmed tail, the fine attachments, the delicate limbs, the round hooves without baleen, here is a pretty bronze whose patina shines like the hair of the true thoroughbred that it represents.
Isidore Jules Bonheur was born on May 15, 1827 in Bordeaux. His father, Raymond Bonheur (1796-1849), a painter of little renown from a family of Toulouse cooks, had married Sophie Marquis, adopted daughter of Jean-Baptiste Dublan de Lahet, a wealthy merchant from Bordeaux, who turned out to be in reality his biological father. The family now made up of three children, Rosa (born in 1822), Auguste (born in 1824) and Isidore (born in 1827) moved to Paris in 1829. Raymond, who thought if not to make a fortune there, or at least to find what to acquire a certain ease, becomes disillusioned quickly. Sophie, his wife, who had benefited from an excellent education and perfectly mastered the art of music, began to give piano lessons in order to meet the needs of the family. However, poverty is not far away, and Sophie has to work at night on needlework to supplement the family income. In 1830, a little Juliette increased the household. But Raymond, influenced by Saint-Simonism * returns to the lodge, takes a vow of celibacy and settles in the communal house of the Saint-Simonians of Menilmontant. When it was dissolved a few months later by the government, Raimond returned to his home. But at the end of April 1833, exhausted and exhausted, Sophie Bonheur breathed her last at the age of 36. The family is so destitute that they are buried in the common grave of Montmartre. After the death of their mother, the four children are placed with a nanny, on the Champs-Elysées, who sends them to the Mutual School. In 1842, Raymond remarried Marguerite Peyrol (widowed, whose son from the first marriage, François Hippolyte would marry Juliette) with whom he had a third son, Germain. Raymond welcomes his children to his studio on the 6th floor of a house in rue Rumfort. Rosa, the older sister, inspired by animals, specialized in this theme, and her paintings quickly sold well and she exhibited for the first time at the age of 19, at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1841. Isidore also trained with her before entering the École des Beaux-Arts in 1849, where he turned to animal sculpture. On March 24, 1849, his father, Raymond Bonheur died when he had just been appointed by the government as director of the École de Dessin des Demoiselles. Rosa takes over.
To go further: https://www.lestresorsdegamaliel.com/sculptures/481-pursang-isidore-bonheur.html

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